Friday, February 17, 2012

Goodreads: When Rachel Bertsche first moves to Chicago, she's thrilled to finally share a zip code with her boyfriend. But shortly after getting married, she realizes that her new life is missing one thing: friends. Sure, she has plenty of BFFs—in New York and San Francisco and Boston and Washington, D.C. Still, in her adopted hometown, there’s no one to call at the last minute for girl talk over brunch or a reality-TV marathon over a bottle of wine. Taking matters into her own hands, Bertsche develops a plan: Meeting people everywhere from improv class to friend rental websites, she'll go on fifty-two friend-dates, one per week for a year, in hopes of meeting her new Best Friend Forever.

Kritters Thoughts: Sometimes I can connect with books on a personal level, but this book hit straight to my heart and at times I was wondering whether she was talking about herself or me! I too recently moved for my significant other and yes, I have my mom and a cousin who is close to my age in town, but I do not have the friend group that I had back in Charlotte.

Rachel uses many different ways to meet people - speed friending, professional friend matcher and even a religious group meeting. I am not sure I could use all her tactics, but I loved how her confidence in talking to strangers grew; it made me want to start random chats with people I pass each day. Her struggle with keeping her new marriage a priority with this endeavor to find new friends was refreshing because many women (myself included) struggle with placing the people in their lives in a priority line up.

A perfect book for those in their late twenties, who do not have kids to make easy connections to new friends. The book clubs, the friends of friends and co-workers as friends have all been things that I have done in the past and continue to do to make lasting friendships in this new city that we live in.

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook Challenge 2012: 12 out of 25

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one copy of this book free of charge from the NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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comments:

I am reading this right now and I am really loving it. It feels like she is a bit inside my head too, especially since I moved like she did to a new area. I am looking forward to finishing it - so glad to hear that you liked it.